Dorm Room
by Rabiscar
Summary: UPDATED. Through a series of vignettes describing experiences that are all tied to the dormitories, this JP/LE outlines the little events that brought James and Lily together.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Rowling owns all. Inspired by Gabe Bondoc's _Dorm Room_.Search him on youtube and have a listen.  


* * *

She was beat. Out cold and fast asleep with her head stuffed at an awkward angle in the loveseat in front of the fire. Her mouth slightly parted and her eyes fused shut with each breath marked by the rise and fall of her chest. He knew she had had a long day. He was in the next aisle of the library when he heard her voice in a hushed whisper, hissing vehemently at Snape who had approached her in apology for what seemed to be the fiftieth time since that day at the lake. He heard her sniffling behind her book after Snape left and knew he'd only make matters worse if he tried to console her after seeing her swipe angrily at the tears threatening to brim over her eyes and roll down her cheeks. He knew she had written that History of Magic test earlier that day too, and although she probably aced it, he knew she stressed over these things. He knew she had a long day so when he saw her tiny form collapsed in front of the fire in the Common Room, the last thing he wanted to do was wake her.

The fire cast dim shadows around the empty room and while she was usually lively, assertive and oftentimes, fairly intimidating, she looked small and vulnerable like a child when he saw her curled up and asleep. Her finished potions essay was on the coffee table and her quill was crumpled in her tightened fist which she had tucked under her chin. He thought of her waking up in the common room the next morning with other pupils slouching around and her neck sore from being stuck at a crooked angle all night. He carefully pulled the quill from her and laid it on the table before rolling up her essay and tucking it in his back pocket. Then carefully, as lightly as he could, he scooped her up in his arms. She stirred and for a moment he worried he had woken her but thankfully she merely leaned into his embrace and sighed deeply before settling back into sleep. Slowly, he walked toward the spiral staircases leading up to the dormitories. He knew that they would slide down the steps if he tried to bring her to her own dormitory so he trudged up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, pressing her gently against his chest so he could watch his feet at each step. Carefully, he laid her in his bed and tucked her in. Her amber curls were spilled across his pillow and her tiny, freckled hand gripped the blanket tightly. He risked waking her up one last time to lean down and gently kiss her forehead. He sighed before crossing the room to Sirius' bed, nudging him hard in the ribs.

"Padfoot, Move over."

"Whass goin' on?"

"Shhh! Nothing! Lily's in _my_ bed, so _you_ have to move over and make room for me!"

Sirius rolled onto his side and squinted at James in the half light.

"Can't you go sleep with her?"

"Yeah if I wanted to wake up dead, you know she'd kill me."

Sirius scooched over obligingly and James crawled under the covers.

"This is just weird, Prongs."

"Oh, shut up and give me some blanket."

Lily woke up slowly the next morning. She was acutely aware of the sun shining through the window but she screwed up her eyelids so they were fixed shut. She smiled happily as she snuggled against her blankets. This was optimum comfort. Funny, she couldn't remember going back up to her dorm last night. And come to think of it, the sheets did not smell quite right. Not that they didn't smell good, they smelt _really_ good she thought in her half slumber. But in the way that boys smell good. She opened her eyes with a start and sat bolt upright. These were not her sheets at all. She whipped her head around to see Potter fast asleep in the bed across from her, with Sirius lying beside him, his arm wrapped snugly across Potter's middle. She quashed a giggle and flopped back down in what she realized was Potter's bed. She got up quietly and was about to leave when on impulse she stumbled toward Sirius' bed. Sirius was hogging all the covers and James was curled up and shivering. She took James' blanket off his bed and laid it over him, before carefully brushing his hair out of his eyes and heading down to the common room.

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A/N: short? yes. But bear with me, they had to start somewhere.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Rowling owns all.  


* * *

"Potter! Where did you put it!" She demanded, standing in the doorway of his dormitory, her hands balled into fists.

"Put what?" He asked innocently, looking up from his potions textbook in surprise.

"You know what," she growled through gritted teeth.

"Lily, I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about," he said calmly as he shut his book and blinked up at her.

"MY JOURNAL!" She roared furiously, her face turning bright scarlet. "WHERE THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU PUT IT?!"

"Evans is that you bellowing?" Sirius called from the common room. "The whole castle can hear you, Merlin!"

"Shut up Sirius," she snapped, her eyes flashing at the door before flicking back to James to subject him to her death stare. She whipped out her wand and flicked it vehemently.

"Accio Journal!"

She looked around the room expectantly but nothing happened. She turned her attention back to James to see him watching her thoughtfully.

"If I had hidden something, and I'm not saying that I did, I would definitely have thought to protect from a simple summoning charm," he said with a smile.

"Bugger off Potter."

"Not feeling very chipper today, are we?" James asked cheerfully.

Lily narrowed her eyes and stepped toward him threateningly. Lying down, hands behind his head, he looked up at her with one eyebrow arched mockingly. She stood over him, and when she spoke her voice was quiet but dangerous.

"I'm not playing Potter. Give me my journal. Or I swear I will wreak havoc on your cushy little life and cause you misery wherever you go." She breathed hotly, her green eyes glinting.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he got to his feet, towering over the tiny redhead with hands on her hips who stared defiantly up at him.

"You really want that journal don't you?" he asked in a low voice. "Something tells me that you want it back so bad because you're terrified of what I might learn if I were to read it. What have you written in there Evans? Afraid I might find out you think I'm a little more than a toerag?" He asked challengingly.

She quivered, he had struck a nerve. She shook her head and mouthed wordlessly, squinting up at him and refusing to step back and give him even an inch.

"Don't even kid yourself," she jeered, trying her best to sound as snarky as possible. "Just give me the journal," she demanded in an authoritative voice, yet her outreached and expectant hand shook slightly and did not go unnoticed by James.

Finally, he relented, shrugging his shoulders, and turning toward his wardrobe. He opened the top drawer, swished his wand casually and extracted a thin, brown, moleskin journal. He pivoted towards her and held it out to her. She snatched it from his hand and heaved a sigh of relief. He expected her to storm out but instead she stood there, feet together, looking far less intimidating and clutching the journal tightly against her chest, with an uncertain look on her face.

"I didn't read it," he said quietly, feeling suddenly guilty.

"Really?" she asked in a small voice.

"Really," he assured her.

She bit her lip and cast her eyes down at the floor before looking up at him in confusion.

"Then why'd you bother taking it?"

He sat back down on his bed, hands gripping the edge of his mattress. He shrugged again and gave her a sidelong look.

"I knew it'd make you come up here, didn't matter to me if you'd come up here mad, as long as you came," he admitted with a wry smile.

She looked at him in mingled puzzlement and disapproval before turning to leave.

"Well, I'm going to study," she said a little awkwardly as she inched out the door. "But next time, lure me here with a snack or something."

All he could do was lay back down and grin at ceiling.

* * *

R&R


	3. Chapter 3

"Come to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday?"

"Uh uh," she said with a frown that didn't reach her green eyes.

"Is that uh huh yes, or uh uh No?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair, tipping it on two legs.

"That's an uh uh no way."

"Ah well," he grinned, stretching his arms out lazily, "One of these days, Evans, you're going to change your mind."

"Yeah, yeah," she said and turned out of the room so he wouldn't see her lips twitching.

"Hey Evans!" he called.

She turned around expectantly.

"See ya later," he grinned again and pushed his hand through jet black hair. He watched her auburn curls quake as she shook her head slightly in amusement and bobbed down the stairs to the Common Room. He turned his gaze back to the potions essay she had been helping him with, and smiled quietly to himself.

"Don't get your hopes up," Sirius said in a bored tone as he flicked through a quidditch magazine from his bed.

"Hm?" James questioned, looking up in surprise.

"You know what I'm talking about," Sirius huffed and sat up in his four poster bed. "She comes up here to do homework and you get yourself all worked up, thinking she'll crack any day. Then she doesn't, and you crash and mope around til you manage to work yourself up again."

"I do not!" James protested, all four legs of his chair landing hard against the floor as he leaned forward eagerly. "I don't mope! And I'm not getting myself worked up!"

"C'mon Prongs, you're my best mate but if you think I can't see you smirking to yourself like an idiot after she leaves then you're bloody mad," Sirius said with a grin.

"Don't know what you're talking about," James denied in a curt, short voice. "You're barking," he said pulling a face, "I'm not that emotionally invested in her, I mean come on, she's just a girl," he said none too convincingly.

"Just a girl?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "Yeah, right, as if you've ever thought that Lily Evans was just a girl."

"I did!" James cried indignantly. "I do! I'm not hung up over this!"

"Yeah, yeah, why don't you go propose already," Sirius retorted and laid back down on his bed.

"Not funny," James grumbled and fiddled with his quill. "So what if I do really like her? What's wrong with that?" he asked challengingly.

"Nothing," Sirius said as he began tossing a quaffle into the air and catching it. "Just don't want to see you hurt again, mate," he shrugged as he continued to play with the quaffle.

They heard a scuffling behind their door and both looked up in surprise. James whipped his wand toward the door and it flung open to reveal Lily standing there, hunched over and red in the face. She straightened out and gestured helplessly toward the stairs.

"I came back for my quill. . .dropped it in the stairwell. . ." she muttered embarrassedly before rushing back down the stairs.

James turned to Sirius in wide eyed fear.

"How much do you think she heard?" he asked anxiously.

"By the look on her face," Sirius said grimly, "I'd say she heard everything."

James let his book slide from his lap and his head fall back in resignation.

"Bollocks."


	4. Chapter 4

Lily jumped at the sound of a steady tapping at her window. She looked up from her book to see a small paper airplane crashing insistently against the paned glass. It was late at night and Lily had been sitting in bed, reading by wand light so as not to disturb the other girls in her dorm. She sprang out of bed and tread across the floor lightly. She pushed the window upward and the airplane sailed into the room. She picked it deftly out of the air before opening it curiously.

_Are you up?_

_-J  
_

Lily stared at the paper intently. He wouldn't try to wake her unless he needed her. She could tell he didn't want to outright ask her to go up to the dormitory but she knew something was up and it was important. She frowned slightly before grabbing her wand and slipping through the door. She made her way down the stairs, padded across the common room and clambered up the steps to the boys' dormitory.

The door was left ajar and she peered through the crack cautiously. She could see what she recognized as James' silhouette leaned against the window. The snores of the other boys filled the room so he didn't hear her as she tip toed toward him. His face was bathed in the moonlight and it was with a troubled, wearisome look that he stared out across the grounds.

She reached up, tapping him lightly on the shoulder and causing him to jump. He whirled around but heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her.

"You came," he whispered in surprise.

She gave a very small nod and looked at him questioningly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You ever get those nights when you just can't sleep?" he asked her in his soft, husky whisper. "You try to, but you've got so much to think about and no matter how hard you try to stay in bed you keep ending up at the window?"

"Yeah," she responded after a pause.

"You do?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I really do," she reassured him. "The worst was the night I had to stay in London when my mom was sick in the hospital," she said in a whisper. "I was up worrying about her and went to the window just to look out, but it was London so there were no stars. All the light pollution and fog I guess. . ." she trailed off uncertainly. "I know it sounds silly but it was so uncomfortable looking out and not seeing a thing in the sky."

He nodded solemnly and she felt this strange, soothing feeling wash over her. She didn't know if it was the white light streaming through the window or the bluish hue of the dark night or their soft whispers but she just felt more at ease than she had in a long time.

"Will you stay with me for a bit," he asked tentatively. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he added hurriedly.

She chuckled. "When have I ever done something for you that I didn't want to do."

He smiled faintly before brushing past her towards his bed. She followed and they sat down, backs against the wall, side by side. Lily crossed her legs, Indian style, and turned to look at James who had leaned his head back against the wall.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked carefully.

He turned towards her, surprised at the directness of her question.

"I'm worried," he told her hesitantly.

"I gathered that much," she said with a small smile which he returned quickly before turning sombre again.

"I just don't know. . ." he started while shooting a look at Remus' bed, "how much I can tell you."

She followed his gaze to Remus' bed and inhaled in sudden comprehension.

"I know about Lupin," she said quietly. "And I know you're an animagus."

James' head shot around to look at her shock.

"How?" he demanded.

"Sev told me," she shrugged. "After that one night. . .he told me but he didn't tell anyone else and neither have I," she explained.

James sighed in relief and rubbed his face in his hands.

"I've just been thinking," he said slowly, "about whether we're doing the right thing. I mean that time with Snape was too close," he shook his head. "Moony's one of my best mates and I want to be there for him every time but I don't know if we should all run around the grounds any more."

"I get that you want to be there for him- and if it were Dorcas or Alice or Mary, I'd probably do the same thing," Lily said emphatically, "but has he ever. . .hurt you?" she asked in a small voice.

James tucked his legs upward and leaned his elbows on his knees, not looking at her.

"There have been accidents," he shrugged, "but he can't really hurt me too much when I'm transformed," he said avoiding her gaze. "Its just I can't imagine how I'd feel if one day an 'accident' happened with someone else." James said shaking his head. "Moony, he didn't want to go through with all this. Sure, he likes our company and enjoys it when we're out with him but if anyone ever got hurt because we pushed him to leave the Shrieking Shack?" James exhaled deeply. "I don't even know," he shrugged again. "All I know is that night with Snivellus was way too close."

"Sorry, mate, I'm not much help."

"Yeah you are," James said in surprise, finally turning to look at her again.

"Aha, don't worry about it," she waved him off. "Not going to offend me, I know I'm not great with the advice and I'm not coming up with any great solutions that'll get you to bed faster," she grinned.

James breathed threw his nose and shook his head. "You really don't know, do you?" He asked with a smile.

"Know what?"

"Nothing," he ducked his head down again but still with that odd little smile.

"No, tell me," she demanded, knocking his elbow with hers.

He sighed, trying to find words.

"How reassuring it is," he said quietly, "just to _be_ with you," he said giving her a sidelong glance.

She looked at him thoughtfully, taking in his bowed head, the slightly upturned corner of his mouth, and the way he cradled his arms against his knees.

"In that case, I'll have to stay a while," she said, rocking her shoulder gently into his.

"Really?" he asked, looking up in surprise.

"Yeah," she nodded. She didn't know how to tell him that she found his presence to be as reassuring as he found hers, so she stayed silent, sitting next to him, side by side.


	5. Chapter 5

"Looking for someone?"

Lily jumped. She hadn't seen Sirius sitting on his bed when she first entered the room and his deep voice startled her out of her musings.

"No," she said absently, looking around the otherwise empty dormitory expectantly. "I just left something in here. . ." she trailed off.

"Yeah?" Sirius asked challengingly, as he got to his feet. "And what was that?"

"Hmm, I can't remember," she tittered, trying to remain non committal.

"Right," Sirius huffed.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, Lily bouncing on the balls of her feet while Sirius stared her down.

"Well, I'll just be going-"

"What are you playing at?" Sirius cut her off.

Lily gaped at him for a moment.

"What do you mean?" she finally asked.

"You're up here all the time, stringing him along, giving him hope, and then you shut him down at every opportunity."

She whipped around and stared at Sirius searchingly, her forehead creased and eyes narrowed in sudden dislike.

"Don't look at me like that," he said irritably. "It's not fair for you to do this to him," he pressed on pointing at her accusingly. "You know how he feels about you, yet you keep coming up here, just teasing, always denying him. So you should turn around and leave him alone unless you've got feelings for him too," Sirius scowled angrily.

"Shut up," she spat harshly, trying to keep her voice down.

"No," Sirius replied, "I've been keeping mum this whole time. I've watched the way you come skipping up here, sitting on his bed, leaning over him as he does his homework, laughing at all his jokes. . ." he trailed off. "Point is, you're just playing, its all a game to you, and its not to him and if you cared about him even a knut's worth then you'd realize that."

She looked as though he had slapped her.

"You have no right to talk about this," she said, her voice shaking in anger. "Don't tell me that I don't care about him. Don't tell me that I'm stringing him along, not when you have no idea, NO IDEA how I feel about him." She said through gritted teeth.

He opened his mouth angrily to retort but stopped as her words suddenly sunk in. He took a long steadying breath.

"What?" he asked in a low voice.

Her face, flushed in anger, immediately blanched to a pale white.

"Nothing," she said breathlessly, brushing her bangs out of her face and with a sigh, all the while refusing to look at him.

"No, no, no," Sirius growled, "If I have no idea how you feel about him, why don't you help me along a little bit."

"There's nothing to 'help you along with,'" she said making quotations in the air. "I don't have to justify myself to you," she snarled, shaking her head. "Just tell me where Potter is," she demanded, trying to keep the sound of begging out of her voice. She just wanted to find him and forget about all this.

"Merlin, Evans," Sirius breathed, running a hand through his hair and looking at her as though for the first time. "You bloody well love him, don't you?"

"No," she cut in at once.

"Yeah, you do," he said in disbelief. "And you haven't told him?" he yelped in a strangled voice.

"Don't!" she said sharply, rubbing her face in her hands.

They both jumped as they heard feet pounding up the spiral staircase. James flung the door open and thundered into the room.

"Just got back from a Honeydukes run!" he sang happily and dumped an armful of chocolate, Pepper Imps, Sugar Quills and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum onto his bed. He turned to smile at each of them in turn but found that Lily and Sirius were both staring at each other intently.

"What's going on?" he asked slowly, his eyes flicking from one to the other.

"Nothing," Lily said gruffly, eyeing down Sirius with a dangerous look. "I gotta go," she muttered, giving Sirius one last death glare before sweeping out of the room.

"Alright, well see ya," James called after her helplessly as she stomped down the stairs. "Yeesh," he said, turning toward Sirius and rolling his eyes. "What's gotten into her?"


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: As always, I do not own anything. It's all Ms. Rowling's.  


* * *

  
"Ok, here's the deal Evans," Sirius said leaning around her, "You tell Prongs how you feel by the end of the week, or I will," he said casually as he selected an apple from the bowl on the table. They were in the Great Hall for lunch and Lily was staring murderously at her mashed potatoes.

"No way, why do you get to set the parameters? You can't give me an ultimatum," she retorted defiantly.

"Um, yes I can," he said, his eyes shining. "I don't have anything to lose. You do. I can do anything I want."

Lily scowled at him petulantly. "Yeah? What do I care? Go ahead and tell him, I'll just deny it," she said crossing her arms resolvedly.

"Pfft, as if I'd lie about something like that," Sirius scoffed. "Prongs knows I never would. And as if you could straight up deny it if I brought it up. You have no poker face. You're a ginger, you can't lie, you always go red as a tomato."

Lily flushed in anger and embarrassment.

"See? There you go," Sirius laughed and took a bite of his apple.

"I hate you." Lily shook her head and turned back to her plate.

"Ah, you do now, but you'll thank me later," Sirius said. "I'm just giving you a little push, you and Prongs would have ended up together anyway," he shrugged.

"You don't know that," Lily said stubbornly.

"Yeah I do and so do you," Sirius waved her off. "Everyone knows you two belong together," he rolled his eyes.

Lily blinked in surprise.

"What? You don't actually believe that. . ."

"Yeah, I do," he said earnestly. "Hogsmeade is this weekend," he said pointedly as he backed slowly away from her. "Take a swig of Firewhisky to make you brave and just tell him."

"As if it were that easy," she muttered darkly as he turned around and swaggered out of the Great Hall. "If _only_ it were that easy."

Lily sat in her four poster bed, the hangings pulled around her and her pillows propped up behind her. She was pouring over her thick Ancient Runes text- or at least she _appeared_ to be since her head was bowed low over the tome in her lap. However; if you looked closely, her eyes were glazed and unmoving. She should have been memorizing symbols for the test the following day but she had, once again, zoned out in thought.

She knew that Sirius was a man of action. If he said he was going to do something then he would bloody hell do it. He wasn't one to waste time on false bravado or bluffs and Lily would much rather tell James about her fledgling feelings for him herself rather than have them to divulged to him by Sirius. She imagined herself feeding him a corny line like those she had heard in Muggle movies or reaching out to lovingly stroke his face. She wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through his jet-black hair, press her mouth against his. . .

"Let's pretend I didn't think that," she said to herself out loud.

"Think what?"

She had forgotten that Mary was in the room.

"Daydreaming about Potter again?"

Mary had an annoying habit of reading Lily's mind.

"No, you swine," Lily retorted irritably.

"Swine?" Mary asked in disbelief. "Well, that's a new one," she said, blue eyes crinkled in amusement from underneath her dark fringe.

"Shut it," Lily snapped as she fell out of bed to the floor.

"What's this about snogging Potter?" Dorcas asked innocently as she walked into the dorm room.

"There was _nothing_ about snogging Potter and you know it." Lily said indignantly.

"Yeah Dorcas, get it right, they didn't snog, they shagged," Mary smirked.

"Why do I talk to you two?" Lily asked herself as she slumped down to lie on the floor.

Dorcas and Mary high fived, each wearing matching grins.

"No worries Lil, we know you're a unicorn," Dorcas said before settling down on the floor to sort through her mountainous sock pile.

"A unicorn?" Lily asked in confusion as she started to braid her long, red hair absently.

"Ya, that's what we've decided to call ourselves."

"The Unicorns?" Lily asked, screwing up her face.

"No thickhead, we're not a girl band." Mary snickered. "Unicorn, as in pure or virginal," she explained.

"Ah," Lily said with dawning comprehension. "I guess that's fitting," she shrugged.

"Stop being such a grump, you never want to play around anymore you just sit and brood," Dorcas complained.

"Not when she's with Potter," Mary cut in. "Maybe if we start wearing glasses and cut our hair short she'll start laughing at our jokes again."

"Or maybe if you start telling new jokes," Lily fired back, "Your punch lines are always the same," she said as she stood up and headed toward the door.

"C'mon Lil, you know we're just kidding, where you going?" Dorcas asked.

"To the boys' dorm," Lily said airily as she shoved past the door.

"Oooooooooooh," Mary and Dorcas cat called. They waited until Lily was safely out of earshot before turning toward one another.

"You don't think she's actually mad, do you?" Dorcas asked as she anxiously brushed back her dirty blond hair.

"Nah," Mary said knowledgeably. "Or not with us anyway. All of this has got her right confused if you ask me. I'd reckon she's more frustrated with herself."

Meanwhile, Lily was marching up the spiral staircase to the boys dormitory.

"I'm coming in so you better not be naked," Lily warned as she barged through the door, eyes squeezed shut and arms extended, her legs kicking out wildly as she walked blindly into the room.

"I'm indecent! Get out!" James shrieked in a stage voice as his eyes crinkled in amusement. He was laying belly-down on his bed while pouring over a textbook and of course, he was fully clothed.

"Oh my gobstones, I'm so sorry," Lily said in a rush, going bright red and whipping around wither her eyes still shut before smacking her forehead against the doorframe.

"Evans," James said calmly, "I was kidding."

"What?" she asked, sneaking a peek at him through half slit eyes. "Oh," she uttered before taking a running leap toward his bed. "Have I ever told you that I hate you?" she asked conversationally as she flopped down beside him.

"Hmm, multiple times," he smiled before turning back to his book.

"What are you working on?" Lily asked as she stared intently at the strand of red hair she was threading through her fingers.

"The transfiguration essay. . ." James trailed off, flicking through pages and sighing at length. "Have you started it?" he asked, turning towards her and leaning his head against his palm.

"Yeah, I finished it last night because I thought it was due today," she rolled her eyes, "but now I'm putting off studying for my Ancient Runes test tomorrow. Therefore it is my horrible habit of procrastination that brings me here," she said and brought her forefinger down against his pillow.

"That's one reason," came a gruff voice.

James and Lily both jumped and turned toward Sirius who, until this point, had been sitting in silence on his bed.

"What?" James asked screwing up his face in confusion.

Sirius opened his mouth to make a snide remark but caught sight of Lily who was glaring at him furiously.

"Er," he stuttered, "I'm just- I'm going to go," he said before jumping to his feet and rushing out of the room.

Lily watched him go with a weary eye before turning back to James.

"Mind if I study here with you?" she asked despite already knowing the answer.

"No," James said in surprise, "go ahead."

She summoned her Ancient Runes text and settled down next to him, cracking open the book to resume her review. His quill scritch-scratched across the parchment and his breathing had a tendency to rise and fall in a soothing rhythm. She could feel herself beginning to relax and for a moment she wondered if this was the time to tell him how she felt. She opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it. There would be plenty of other times to tell him, but right now, lying next to him in silence was exactly what she needed.

"What about you Lily, do you have any prospects?"

"What?" Lily asked, looking up from her book in confusion. Alice had spent the last fifteen minutes of study hall gushing about her soon-to-be boyfriend Frank while Lily spent the last fifteen minutes of study hall tuning her out to doodle in the margins of her textbook.

"Do you have any male suitors," Alice giggled.

"What? No," Lily shook her head vehemently as she noticed Dorcas, Mary, Remus, Sirius and Peter all looking up at her expectantly.

"Oh c'mon, you're gorgeous, the boys are lining up for a chance with you, there must be one who you're interested in," Alice went on, oblivious to the tension she was creating.

James was staring intently at his bit of parchment but by the way he was scratching his quill over and over the same spot, Lily could tell he was not focused on the parchment at all.

"What is it? Is he in another house? Another year?" Alice asked interestedly. "There's so many eligible blokes at this school, you must like _somebody_."

"No!" she cried as she noticed James' brow furrow deeper and deeper. "There's nobody else!"

His quill fell still and he directed his gaze towards her.

"Nobody _else_ ?" Alice demanded, looking quickly from James to Lily. "What do you mean nobody _else_?"

"Nothing!" Lily huffed, "There's nobody!" she said causing James' shoulders to slump. "Never mind," Lily muttered as she stood to her feet. "I've got to go to class, see you later," she said miserably.

Everyone at the table watched her go before flicking their eyes towards James and exchanging looks with one another. James threw his quill down in frustration and slammed his book shut before bolting up and rushing out of the room after her.

"Evans, wait," he called as he chased her out the door into the hallway.

She turned around and dropped her book bag resignedly.

"What?" she asked morosely.

"Well, nothing," he stammered, "but we've got half an hour left of study hall before you're next class," he said, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably and standing before her. He made a small, shrugging gesture and shot her an uncertain look.

She sighed and took two steps toward him, leaning her forehead against his chest, with her back straight, and her arms plastered straight against her sides.

"I'm tired," she said into his chest and he knew she didn't mean that she was tired in a sleepy way.

"Me too," he admitted.

"And I'm sorry," she said in the same exhausted voice.

"Hm?" he asked, putting his hands gently on the crooks of her elbows.

"I'm sorry I said you were nothing."

"Oh!" he said in surprise. "That's okay."

"But I'm done with all that. I'm done with Sirius being mad at me and the girls making fun of me and with moping around wondering. I should know better by now."

"Know what?" he asked.

"That you're my somebody," she conceded grumpily.

"Oh!" he said again.

"Oh, shut up," she grumbled. "As if you didn't know."

"I had an idea, I didn't know for sure," he said, talking against the top of her head.

"Yeah, well now you know," she mumbled.

"Well, you don't have to sound so happy about it," he remarked dryly. "You know you're my somebody too, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said evenly. "It's not exactly as if you've made a big secret of it," she cracked a smile. "If there's one thing you need to work on; it's the art of subtlety," she giggled while reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.

"No way," he grinned down at her, "If I had been as dark and mysterious as you were, we would still be teasing each other in class and getting nowhere," he laughed.

"To be honest, I am glad we're finally getting somewhere," said quietly. She felt his arms circle her waist and pull her close.

"Me too, Lily," he murmured as he pressed his cheek against hers. "Me too."

END.

* * *

A/N: I want to first say thank you to everyone who reviewed and favourited this story, you made me feel wonderful. I also wanted to say that the story turned out a lot differently than I had originally envisioned it and I think this was as result of me outgrowing it as I wrote it. The end leaves a little to be desired but I hopefully it is satisfying. The fic was inspired by the Gabe Bondoc song entitled "Dorm Room" (ironically, the song is about a break up). Check it out if you haven't yet. .com/watch?v=jQF74GrYIos  
Much love and thanks. Rabiscar.


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